The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-09-04
A TOUGH OLD YARN.
Vivid Description of a Buffalo
Stampede.
STAMPING OUT A WAR PARTY.
A Herd Of Bufaloes Seven Miles Wide
and Forty Miles Deep-A
Tribe Demoralized.

Did you ever see stampede of but
falos2 No? Well, the man who has seen
one, and lived to tell of it, has witnessed
a spectacle to be wildly remembered all
his days. A stampede was common
occurrence in the life OF every Western
hunter twenty years ago; but no one
will ever look at one again. The hide
hunters haven't left score Of the ami
mails alive. =
During my time, says Western writer
in the New York Sun. have had several
close shsges from stampedes, but little
the closest call ever got was the means
of saving my scalp. 1t was in 1867, and
pretty near on the line between Kansas
and Nebraska, at point between the Re-
publican and the Solomon rivers. There
was famous grazing ground for the buff
faIo, and there he was undisturbed, ex-
cept by the Indians, who killed only
when they wanted meat. l have seen
herds in that country which numbered
up to 100000, and which covered the
prairie as far as the eye could see.
What creates stampede2 Nothing
anything. While the buffalo is born in
wild state, and ought to get accus-
toned to storms, the s!ghtof wolves, and
all kinds of noises, he is the most timid
animal on earth. have seen the coming
up of dark cloud stampede 10, 600 buff
faloes. l have known the howl of wolf
to set a big herd in motion. A fash OF
lightning or clap of thunder seemed to
scare them half to death, although you
would argue that they would get used to
it. And once started, nothing but d noun
tain could turn the great wave aside, and
only exhaustion would bring them back
to their senses After herd had fairly
started, terror seemed to take complete
possession OF them, and it was the devil
seize the last one. Then it was woe to
the pioneer or hunter who happened to
be in their path without grove to shell
ter him. 1 saw, in 1867, on the Loup
fork of the Platte river, an emigrant
camp which had been run over by a
stampede. There had been seven wagons
: and twenty four people, with ABOUT
thirty head of horses and cattle. The
rushing, terror-stricken herd struck the
camp Just at daybreak, and was fifteen
or twenty minutes passing. Only one
human being escaped-a man who was
carried off on the back of a buffalo, and
left at spot ten miles away. Not an
animal was left, not vehicle escaped
destruction. l saw the site of the camp
, about noon of that day, and there wasn't
piece of any of the heavy wagons which
l could not have carried off under my
arm. The people had been trampled into
the earth-annihilated- out. The
remains could scarcely be recognized as
those of human beings.
But as to my own adventure. There
| fOnr huntorc nf in tho locality
spoken of, killing various kind of game
and doing little trapping, and though
there were plenty of redskins in that
> country, they did not get on to US for a
, week. We had camp on small run
or creek, with a grove of about dozen
trees for shelter, and about two miles to
the north was a spring and another
grove The Indians hadn't got hold of
Winchesters and knew nothing of revolt
vers In those days, and war party of
less than twenty-fi five would have hesi-
tated to attack four hunters. We kept
our eyes open, however, and one was on
the watch while the other three slept.
We had been in camp nine or ten days,
and constantly surrounded by butfaloes,
when, one afternoon just before sunset,
it was apparent from the actions of the
animals that something was in the wind.
The attachments were consolidating, all
stray bulls joining the herds, and almost
every buffalo ceased feeding and acted
anxious and i'll at ease. That meant In
dians. Curious as it may seem, the pres
ence of an Indian will disturb the buff
faloes sooner than that of white man.
We couldn't say whether it was a war
party hanging around to attack US or q
hunting party lowering on the TANKS of
the great herd, but we made ali prepar-
atoms that night to defend ourselves.
have spoken of the second growth.
1t was composed of few stunte1 cot
tonwoods, and was in no case shelter.
Now this is what happened during the
night. A war party of about thirty five
Indians took up their position in this
little grove, calculating to sweep down
on US at daylight and carry our camp by
storm. Along toward daylight they
mounted and rode softly down to within
a quarter of mile Of US, and there
waited for day to break. They would be
observed by the sentinel, but would make
rush and carry the camp. Well, it was
just coming day, and five minutes more
would have discovered them to the sem
tinel, when the big herd, which had been
gathering to the north of US, began
stampede. The sentinel heard them at
the first start off and reused US up, anO
by the time we had our guns in hand we
could see the Indian war party. They
knew what was up better than We did,
but they were caught between two fires,
and the chief was too slow-witted for the
occasion. His policy should have been
to charge Us. He might have lost six or
eight men, but the shelter of the grove
would have saved the rest and given
them our scalps to boot. BE might not
have known our strength, and so, after
| spending the valuable minutes in refec-
ton, he ordered the party off TO the
left. The only hope they could have
was in riding across the face of the herd,
but that was out of the question. The |
front covered, as We afterward knew, q |
distance of seven miles, and the Indians
had barely got started when the first buff |
faloes were insight. They came thicker
than bees, their heads down, horns rub
bling, and feet makings great chatter,
and while we looked we saw the war
party swallowed up in that great heav-
ing sea of animal life. A moment later
an old bull dashed into and through the
grove, and every man sprang for tree